Jurassic Park (the first one) owned the box office. I was teaching at a poverty row college. Our staff retreats too frequently concluded with faculty appeals to gods and donors for the wherewithal to make payroll.

There’s nothing sexy about a college operating budget. Folks give to buildings and named scholarship funds, but you just can’t mount a commemorative plaque on a light bill. So the president unveiled a plan whereby we might “cut our way to prosperity.” In practical terms: bring your own coffee to the break room, say goodbye to departmental secretaries, and – for goodness sake – make fewer copies.

The internet was young. And so was I. Cut-backs prompted my move of syllabi from Xerox and A.B. Dick (yes, the purple mimeograph with the evocative aroma) to a new form on-line. In the early 90s, the idea was revolutionary. I begged for and was begrudgingly permitted a sliver of the school’s server (more about that later).

Hear the rest of the story in this episode of Become the Media:

Questions of design and functionality:

Is your syllabus a fit for its medium? If you’re on-line, could you credibly explain to your students why?

If your syllabus is on-line, does it have the non-linear functionality students associate with the websites they frequent?

Does your site model the principles of design, rhetoric, privacy, security, and reach you espouse in class?

Is your syllabus responsive? Does its code automatically detect and adapt to laptops and mobile devices (by far your students’ preferred way of accessing the web)?